Shipment and display box



Aug. 27, 1957 s. e. BERGH ETAL 2,804,255

SHIPMENT AND msmw BOX Filed Feb. 15, 1955 i 20 l2 l8 INVENTORS GEORGE G. BERGH BYROBERT G. BERGH Fiq. 3 MIMIZFMYWM ATTORNEYS nited States Patent SHIPMENT AND DISPLAY BOX George G. Bergh and Robert G. Bergh, Attleboro Falls, Mass., assignors to Bergh Bros. Co., Inc., Attieboro Fails, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 15, 1955, Serial No. 488,256

4 Claims. Cl. 229-35 This invention relates to shipment and display boxes, and more particularly to a corner construction for sheet metal boxes.

A number of important considerations enter into the problem of designing shipment and display boxes. In the first place, it is highly desirable that such boxes be rigid and strong because they receive rough treatment during wrapping and packaging prior to shipment and during use thereafter. In addition, when such a box is provided with a spring-operated hinged lid or cover, the rear wall of the box is subjected to substantial stresses which either distort the box or cause its corners to break. Another design consideration relates to the shape of the box for conveniently wrapping the box with a decorative cover. Mass production wrapping is more easily accomplished when the box is formed with a square or angular contour. Still another consideration relates to attaching hinge mechanisms to the rear wall of such a box. Great savings in time and materials may be effected if the hinge attaching connections may be formed in the rear wall by mass production techniques.

Due to the foregoing considerations, it is apparent that the conventional cardboard box is inadequate because it is not strong enough to stand up under the rigorous conditions of wrapping, packagingand use. Several attempts have been made in the past to provide various forms of metal boxes but these attempts have had numerous drawbacks. One previously employed form is the so-called drawn box in which a flat sheet of metal is die stamped to draw the metal into the shape of a box. The drawn box has two serious disadvantages. First, unless highly expensive metals are employed, it is practically impossible to draw a square corner in such a box and consequently it is more dilficult to wrap the box with a decorative cover by mass production techniques. Secondly, the hinge attaching elements of such a box can only be formed in the rear wall after the box has been drawn and this again results in extra time and cost in production. Another form of box previously ern ployed has comprised a flat sheet of metal with its corners cut away and with the portions adjacent the corners bent upwardly to form corners for the box. While such a box may have angular corners which may be wrapped by mass production techniques, its corners are not sufficiently strong to prevent the normal stresses applied to the box from causing the decorative cover to crack in the corners of the box. Another disadvantage relative to these forms of conventional metal boxes is that the thickness of the opposed walls of the top and bottom sections of the box is not sufiicient to prevent the top and bottom halves of the box from collapsing inwardly in telescoping relation. Attempts have been made to form little tabs on the corners of the box walls and thereafter to spot weld the tabs to the walls to hold the corners solidly, but here again a successful result has not been produced because spot welding renders the walls uneven and sets up strains in the boxes such that they do not thereafter lie perfectly fiat. Also such boxes 2,84,255 Patented Aug. 27, 1957 still have the disadvantage of being relatively collapsible.

Therefore, it is an object of our invention to provide a metal box having angular corners and having a suflicient thickness in the corners substantially to eliminate the tendency to telescope between a top and bottom section of such a box. Another object is to provide a corner construction for such a box which may be formed after hinge attaching connections have been applied to the box blank in the flat state by mass production techniques prior to formation. Still another object'of our invention is to provide an angular corner connection for a sheet metal box whereby the box can be wrapped with a decorative covering by mass production techniques and which will prevent the walls from cracking the decorative covering by holding the corner walls rigidly against separation.

In the accomplishment of these and other objects of our invention in a preferred embodiment thereof, we form the box of our invention out of a flat portion of thin sheet metal. As a first stage in the formation of the box of our invention, we take a roughly rectangular section of sheet metal and at one and the same time cut out the corner of this section and stamp into one portion thereof hinge attaching elements in the area of the box which will eventually become the rear wall of one section thereof. The second stage in the formation of the box consists in bending the side and end walls of the box upwardly to a vertical position and simultaneously interlocking the corners thereof. The interlocking of the corners is accomplished by means of a pair of ears in each corner, the car on one wall adjacent to a corner being an L-shaped piece that is bent to a position parallel to the other wall of the corner, and the ear on the said other wall being a simple straight tab bent into interlocking relation with the said L-shaped ear.

It is a feature of our invention that the said corner lock construction provides a sufiiciently secure corner to prevent the walls from shifting and cracking the decorative covering, and an angular corner which may be readily wrapped by mass production techniques. It is a further feature of our invention that the corner construction provides a triple thickness of metal substantially preventing the upper and lower sections of the box I from collapsing in telescoping relationship. Another feature is that that hinge attaching connections may be made on the blank prior to forming the walls, and still a further feature is that the corners of the box may be formed while the box is accurately aligned so that the corners thereafter serve to hold the box flat.

Further objects and features of our invention will be best understood from a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of our invention, selected for purposes of illustration, and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a portion of two halves of a box formed with the corner lock construction of our invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a blank employed in forming the said box; and

Fig. 3 is a detailed plan view of the corner construction.

In the referred embodiment of our invention herein shown, we employ a blank of thin sheet metal stamped to provide a bottom panel 10, side panels 12, a front panel,

14 and a rear panel 16. The panels 12, 14 and 16 are bent upwardly in the formation of the box, and therefore, in this description they will be referred to either as panels or walls.

The first step in the formation of the box is to cut out the blank with the panels previously mentioned being formed and with a pair of straight cars 18 on the marginal corners of the walls 14 and i6 and with a pair of 3 v. L-shaped ears 20 on the marginal corners of the side walls 12. It will be understood that the position of the ears 18 and 20 is interchangeable. The blank as shown in Fig, 2 is rectangular in form, but it will be understood also that octagonahhexagonal or other shapes are equally feasible with the construction of our invention.

Referring specifically to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the L-shaped car 20 on one marginal corner of a wall 12 starts from a position slightly below the upper marginal edge of the wall 12, extends inwardly for a short space, and then upwardly. On the other hand the car 18 on the adjacent wall 16 as shown in Fig. l is a simple straight car which extends inwardly directly from the top marginal edge of the wall 16. In the formation of the box after bottom panel and simultaneously the cars 18 and are bent inwardly roughly 90 from the wall to which they are attached. through the open section of the L-shaped ear 20. T hereafter the ear 18 is struck by a rearwardly (in this instance) moving element of the die and is pressed against the ear 20 so as to form a locking engagement.

With reference to Fig. 3 it will be seen that the car 18 assumes a final position roughly parallel to the wall 16 to which it is attached. It will be understood, of course, that precisely the same thing occurs in connection with the corners of the wall 14. It should be noted that one portion of the ear 18 which overlies the open portion of the L-sh-aped ear 20 is driven inwardly at an angle and occupies a portion of the said open space. This lattermentioned feature is important in preventing lateral motion between the cars 18 and 20 which might otherwise permit the corner formed by the walls 14 and 16 to shift or open up. The metallic composition of the cars 18 and 20 accounts for their rigidity with this form of a lock.

It will be now seen that the corner construction of our invention has the decided advantage of being adaptable to mass production techniques, and therefore, it is extremely secure. Another feature of importance which will now be apparent to those skilled in the art is that the box corner is locked while the entire box still remains in the die, and in this fashion the corners are held in extremely accurate alignment so that there is no tendency of the box to warp or assume a position of misalignment. Being angular, the corners may be wrapped conveniently, and since the ears in effect provide a triple wall thickness, the tendency of the two halves of the box to collapse inwardly is virtually eliminated.

Since numerous minor variations of this preferred embodiment of our invention will now be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, it is not our intention to confine the invention to the precise form herein shown, but rather to limit it in terms of the appended claims.

Having thus described and disclosed a preferred em- In this fashion the ear 18 interlocks bodiment of our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A corner for a sheet metal box having in combination, a first wall, a second wall, said walls terminating in angular relationship to each other, an L-shaped hook member integral with said first wall lying in the plane of the second said wall adjacent to the inner surface thereof, a locking ear integral. with said second wall bent to overlap the inner surface of said L-shaped hook member and defining between itself and said second wall a tapered opening which has its narrowest point nearest said corner and which widens to receive said hook member at its widest point whereby said. locking flap restrains said book member from relative motion.

2. A sheet metal box comprising a bottom panel, a plurality of walls integral with said bottom panel, and terminating with at least one pair of said walls in abutting angular relationship to form a corner, a first ear carried by one wall at said corner, a second ear carried by the other wall at said corner, said first ear lying adjacent to, parallel to, and in contact with the wall which carries said second ear, a notch in the upper margin of said first rality of walls integral with said bottom panel, a first said wall and a second said wall terminating in abutting relation to form a corner, a first ear on said first wall, a sec ond ear on said second wall, said ears being integral with said walls and having the same thickness as said walls, the said first ear lying adjacent to, parallel to, and in contact with said second wall, the said second ear lying parallel to said second wall and overlapping said first ear,

and said first ear starting from a point on said first wall below the upper margin of said first wall, extending inwardly therefrom and then upwardly to a position level with the top of said second wall to form a notch for re ceiving said second car.

4. The box defined in claim 3 further characterized by said second car terminating with its upper margin also level with said second wall whereby to provide a triple wall thickness adjacent to the upper margin of said second wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Buckingham I an. 25, 1887 Mestemacher May 5, 1908 Bowman u July 20, 19l5 

